Ricky Gervais thinks of joke even he finds 'too offensive' during Netflix special but tells it anyway

Ricky Gervais launched his new comedy special Armageddon on Netflix on Christmas Day, and if you know anything about the comedian you can be sure as hell it's controversial.

There was plenty of backlash to a clip from the show that was released early, in which Gervais joked about meeting children for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

There was even a petition calling for Netflix to cut the joke out of Ricky Gervais: Armageddon, but now it's released in full on the streaming service it's still in there.

That joke really was just the tip of the iceberg as well, with Gervais promising to perform 'bits tonight I haven't done before', and that his ad-libs during the show were things he'd just thought up on the spot.

Speaking of which, there was a point in Armageddon where Gervais did just that, but when he thought of the joke he said it was 'too offensive' and he couldn't say it.

Of course this being Ricky Gervais he went right ahead and said it anyway, as though there was any doubt that he would once the thought went into his head.

Matt Crockett/Netflix

"I just thought of a joke then, I can't do it, it is actually too offensive," Gervais said mid-performance before the audience appeared to call on him to say it out loud.

"Alright, I'll do it, but remember you can't choose your own thoughts, and I just had this thought.

"Ok, Chinese paedophile goes after a little Chinese kid and goes 'do you want a puppy?' and the kid goes 'I'm not hungry'."

That drew a big laugh from the audience, who presumably knew exactly what they were in for when they went to a Ricky Gervais show.

Elsewhere in the special, James Corden ended up being the target of Gervais' jokes.

Netflix

In addition to jokes about terminally ill children and the Chinese, Gervais took aim at Corden and not for the first time.

They've traded some barbs in their respective sitcoms After Life and Gavin and Stacey, and it seems as though the latest blow has been struck by Gervais.

The comedian opened the joke with a riff about animal lovers going online to find out whether a dog dies in a TV show or film they're planning to watch.

Gervais then went on to talk about people finding other things they didn't want to see before throwing in a suggestion of his own: "I asked one question myself on this... 'Is James Corden in it?'"